Born in 1767 in Annapolis, Maryland, Charles Peale Polk was the son of Elizabeth D. Peale and Robert Polk. After the death of his mother around 1773, he moved to Philadelphia to live with his mother's brother, the artist Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827). Polk received his artistic training from his uncle, and by the time he was eighteen, he was a professional portraitist. From 1791 to 1796, Polk lived in Baltimore, where he pursued dry goods and shipping ventures, both of which failed. He did however, continue to paint. More than thirty-five portraits, many of them signed and dated, are known from Polk's time in Baltimore, the largest number he painted in any city.

This portrait depicts Mr. Edgar Moses Patterson, a prominent businessman and merchant, as well as an officer, from Georgetown, in the District of Columbia and has descended through the Patterson family until its most recent ownership.

Patterson built a series of mills along the Potomac River, at Little Falls Bridge, just three miles from Washington. During the Revolutionary War, Patterson's gristmill was used in the heroic effort to save the Declaration of Independence and other prominent government documents.